The addition of $25 million of funding for spinach farmers who lost revenue during last year’s spinach recall is affecting those victims of the E.coli outbreak.
The losses to the farmers came when they were unable to sell their crops last fall after Americans got sick and died from e-coli bacteria in a batch of tainted spinach.
Some of that spinach found its way to the Matthew’s dinner table. Michelle got sick, but her daughter, Arabella, almost died. Arabella was just two-years-old when she came down with E. coli. She spent nine days at Primary Children’s Hospital, had an operation and was on kidney dialysis from hemolytic uremic syndrome.
The Matthews have about $60,000 in medical bills now, mostly covered by insurance. She says the family has been assured the spinach grower’s insurance company would pay the bills, but no money has arrived. Then Mrs. Matthews read that the spinach farmers stand to gain $25 million from the Iraq war spending bill.
"I understand this is the way our legislature works, but I think it’s just sickening," Michelle Matthews of Eagle Mountain told ABC 4 News.
In an article for USA Today, Marler Clark client Darryl Howard whose mother, Betty, died after becoming ill with an E. coli infection, said, "They killed my mother, and now they want me to pay for it." Marler Clark is also representing Michelle Matthews.